Fourth week into the nationwide lockdown, 21 Indian Navy personal tested positive from Mumbai, Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state. India reported 28 deaths in the last 24 hours raising the death toll to 480.

The country reported 28 deaths in the last 24 hours. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

As the country enters its fourth week since the nationwide lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24, COVID-19 induced fatalities rose to 488 on Saturday with total number of infections reaching 14,792. At least 21 Indian Navy personnel who were a part of a logistics and support facility of the Western Naval Command, Mumbai tested positive for the coronavirus. With this Maharashtra continues to be the worst-affected state with over 200 deaths and 3,855 infections.

Uttar Pradesh saw a sight drop in its infections along with Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. Punjab’s testing drive revealed that 78.17 per cent COVID-19 positive patients in the state were asymptomatic. This is based on assessment of 197 positive cases in the state till Thursday. A 70-year-old man from North Kashmir became the UT’s fifth coronavirus death till Friday.

Covid-19 mortality rate in India around 3.3 per cent: Health Ministry

The Health Ministry said the mortality rate for COVID-19 cases in India is around 3.3 per cent, while over 13 per cent patients have recovered so far. During its daily media briefing, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said data indicates that of the people who died due the infection 14.4 per cent were between 0-45 years, 10.3 per cent between 45-60 years, 33.1 per cent between 60-75 years and 42.2 per cent were aged 75 and above.

The Health Ministry said data indicates that of the people who died due the infection 14.4 per cent were between 0-45 years. (Express photo)

“We saw that 75.3 per cent deaths were among those aged 60 or above and in 83 per cent cases there were co-morbidities,” he said and reiterated that the elderly and those with co-morbid conditions are at high risk.

India to get 3 lakh more rapid test kits from China

In addition to the first consignment of 5 lakhs Rapid Antibody Test kits that China sent to India two days ago, China will be sending another 3 lakh kits for country’s aid to curb coronavirus spread. Vikram Misri, India’s Ambassador to China had also said 650,000 kits, including Rapid Antibody Tests and RNA Extraction Kits had been despatched from Guangzhou Airport.

In a major outbreak of the virus in the armed forces, about 26 Indian Navy personnel have tested positive for coronavirus at the strategically-located Western Naval Command in Mumbai. The infected sailors were staying at a bachelors’ residential block at the INS Angre, a shore-based logistics and support establishment, just a few hundred metres away from the main Naval dockyard housing a range of frontline warships and submarines of the force.

(Express photo)

‘The 26 sailors who were placed in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 at Mumbai, belong to INS Angre, a shore establishment. There has so far not been a single case of COVID-19 onboard any ship, submarine or air station of the Indian Navy,’ the Indian Navy said in a statement. “The Indian Navy is committed to containing the spread of the infection to the maximum extent possible and remains operationally prepared as always, to meet any challenges in the maritime domain,” the Navy said.

Home Minister takes stock of supply of essential commodities

Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the prevailing situation in the country during the ongoing lockdown and took stock of the supply of essential commodities, officials said. “The home minister reviewed the working of MHA control room and reviewed COVID-19 situation in various states in a meeting with officers.

Shah reviewed the lockdown situation across the nation. (Express photo)

“The control room is operational 24×7 and is coordinating with states as well as with various ministries of central government,” a home ministry spokesperson said. The meeting was attended by his two junior ministers G Kishan Reddy and Nityanand Rai, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and other senior officers. (PTI)

An 85-year-old patient of heart and respiratory disease who had recovered from the coronavirus passed away this morning. According to the state health minister, KK Shailaja his death cannot be prescribed to the novel coronavirus as he had testing negative for the disease thrice and had been categorised as a “recovered patient”.

“Due to his age and other complications, he had already been physically exhausted when he was brought in. But he was given the best care by doctors and other staff. Over time, he recovered and began to even talk to his family over the phone. He was tested thrice and all of them had come back negative. So we categorised him as a recovered patient,” the health minister said.

“But Gandhi has to be praised for the stand he has taken in the present crisis”, the party said.

The Shiv Sena Saturday heaped praises on Rahul Gandhi over his stand on the coronaviruspandemic, saying the Congress leader has “shown how a responsible opposition party should behave” during a crisis.

“There can be certain opinions about Rahul Gandhi. Well, there are opinions about PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah as well. Half of the BJP’s success is due to tarnishing the image of Rahul Gandhi. This continues even today. “But Gandhi has to be praised for the stand he has taken in the present crisis. He has created a model code of conduct on how an opposition party should behave when the country is faced with a crisis,” the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

An analysis showed that an average 69% of coronavirus cases in an Indian state arose from just 3 districts. In this, the statistical bifurcation of recoveries and deaths show more than half (50.55%) comes from these three districts and an average 63.9 per cent of deaths, too, are from here. This statewise concentration in three districts is significant as the government identified 170 districts in 25 states as hotspots.

The three districts in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat that have over 4,200 active cases account for 80 per cent of the total state share. Similarly In Andhra Pradesh, the districts of Guntur, Kurnool and Nellore; Hyderabad, Nizamabad and Vikarabad districts in Telangana; in Karnataka, the districts of Bangalore, Mysuru, and Belagavi and in Kerala, the districts of Kasargod, Kannur and Ernakulam — an average 63 per cent of the cases are concentrated in three districts in these states.

Due to lockdown CBSE likely to reduce syllabus for classes 9-12

The Central Board of Secondary Education is likely to reduce the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 for the academic year 2020-21, a board official said Saturday. “NCERT has come out with revised activities calendar for 1-8, CBSE is assessing the situation and loss of time to rationalise syllabus for classes 9-12 and inform in due course of time” he further added.

The National Council of Educational Research And Training, NCERT has recently released alternative academic calendar for classes 1 to 12 to enable students to learn quality and standardized curriculum from home.

More than 70% of positive cases in Punjab showed no symptoms, tests reveal

Punjab’s testing drive has revealed that 78.17 per cent COVID-19 positive patients in the state are asymptomatic. This is based on assessment of 197 positive cases out of which 154 were asymptomatic till Thursday. These 154 were tested only because they were primary contacts of already positive patients who, in fact, were tested only after showing symptoms.

In its fight against coronavirus, Punjab has started a door-to-door drive in hotspots and few other districts to check the residents with suspicious symptoms.